![\"President](\"http:\/\/clemsonworld.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Haworth-PrezCEO-FrancoBianchi.jpg\")
<\/a>President Clements welcomes Haworth President and CEO Franco Bianchi to the podium.<\/p><\/div>
\nIn May, the University announced a partnership between the Watt Center and Haworth Inc., an innovative international company in furniture and organic workspace design and products. The partnership is a comprehensive engagement in collaborative research activities, product use and demonstration, and philanthropic support. Haworth Inc. has pledged a gift of $3 million to the Watt Center, including $800,000 in research funding and a $2.2 million gift-in-kind of interior products.
\nThis is Haworth\u2019s first engagement with Clemson University. Franco Bianchi, who has led Haworth as president and CEO since 2005, visited Clemson in 2013 and has a strong relationship with Watt Center director Charles Watt.
\n\u201cAt Haworth, we value continuous education and the innovative schools and programs in our communities that never stop exploring and teaching. Haworth is proud to support Clemson,\u201d said Bianchi.
\nThe Watt family gift and the Haworth pledge are part of the University\u2019s Will to Lead campaign to raise $1 billion to support students and faculty with scholarships, professorships, facilities, technology and enhanced opportunities for learning and research.
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\u00a0Erwins\u2019 continuing investment benefits students<\/h3>\n
Students will benefit from scholarships, additional experienced faculty and new state-of-the-art classroom space thanks to the continuing investment of Joe Erwin \u201979 and his wife, Gretchen.
\nThe co-founders of Greenville-based advertising and marketing firm Erwin Penland gave two new gifts totaling $1.08 million to benefit the University\u2019s Erwin Center for the Study of Advertising and Communication, $800,000 to further the center\u2019s programming and $208,000 to establish the Eugene and Valerie Getchell Scholarship Endowment. Named for Gretchen Erwin\u2019s parents, the endowment allows Clemson to offer two need-based scholarships each year to students studying in the Erwin Center, beginning this year.
\nThe gifts are part of Clemson\u2019s Will to Lead campaign. The Erwin Center was created in December 2012 when the Erwins gave a lead gift of $1.05 million.
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Call Me MISTER receives $1.3 million<\/h3>\n
<\/a>William Buster, director of the Kellogg Foundation\u2019s Mississippi and New Orleans programs<\/p><\/div>
\nClemson\u2019s Call Me MISTER\u00a0program has received $1.3 million from the\u00a0W.K. Kellogg Foundation of Battle Creek, Mich., to collaborate with Jackson State University to increase the number of African-American male teachers in Mississippi K-8 classrooms. The three organizations gathered on campus to commemorate the collaboration and grant.
\nClemson established the now nationally recognized\u00a0Call Me MISTER\u00a0program in 2000 to increase the number of African-American males teaching in South Carolina K-12 schools. MISTER stands for Mentors Instructing Students Toward Effective Role Models. After more than a decade, there is a 75 percent increase in the number of African-American male teachers in South Carolina\u2019s public elementary schools.
\nThe program has expanded to 17 colleges in South Carolina. Nearly 100 students are enrolled in the program in six additional states: Florida, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Mississippi and Georgia.
\n\u201cThe demonstrated success of the Call Me MISTER collaborative model in South Carolina, which has resulted in a significant increase in African-American male teachers in our state, provided confidence that the same result was possible in Mississippi,\u201d Roy Jones, director of Call Me MISTER said. \u201cWe simply exported our nearly 15 years of successful experience in recruiting, retaining and developing pre-service teachers to Jackson State, which has a long tradition and history in producing African-American educators.\u201d
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